Drew Brees: New Orleans Legend in the Making

• February
• 5

Drew Brees is quickly becoming what Brett Farve was to Green Bay down in New Orleans: a legend. The 31-year-old quarterback has lead New Orleans’ beloved Saints to their first Super Bowl in the team’s history. It wasn’t just the fact that he’s a great quarterback, but because of the type of person he is on and off the field. Many have made the allusion to Brees coming to New Orleans after the city was starting to recover from Hurricane Katrina at when he was trying relaunch his career. The former San Diego Charger had recovered from a career-threatening shoulder injury and it was unclear if he could recapture his form. However, Brees flourished in the Big Easy becoming one of the best quarterbacks in the league running head coach Sean Payton’s high flying offense. Off the field Brees has given his heart to the city of New Orleans devoting time to raising money for charity. He’s donated $2 million to academic facilities at his alma-mater Purdue, his foundation has raised more than $4.6 million to fund cancer research, rebuild athletic fields in New Orleans, and support day-care centers around the city. Saints fans have become so enamored with the star they’re even calling him “Breesus”. Drew Brees will be up against another legend-in-the-making Peyton Manning, but he’ll have everyone back in the Big Easy singing his praises for years to come no matter what happens on Sunday.

Kurt Warner Hangs it Up

• January
• 29

After 12 years in the NFL Kurt Warner has decided to retire from football. The announcement came Friday out of Tempe, Arizona that the 38-year-old quarterback will not complete the second year of the two year contract he signed with the Cardinals prior to the 2009 season. Warner led the St. Louis Rams to a Super Bowl victory in 1999 throwing for 414 yards and winning the Super Bowl MVP award.

The unlikely star out of Burlington, Iowa only started his senior year of college at Northern Iowa University where he earned the Gateway Conference Offensive Player of the Year award. After getting cut from the Green Bay Packers, who had another quarterback by the name of Brett Farve on roster, Warner returned to Cedar Rapids to work a minimum wage job stocking shelves at a grocery store.

The Arena league’s Iowa Barnstormers came calling and Warner led them to two Arena Bowl appearances. After a year in NFL Europe, Warner was signed by the St. Louis Rams. In 1999 starting quarterback Trent Green tore his ACL in the pre-season thrusting Warner into the Rams’ starting role. In what has to be one of the most unexpected occurrences in NFL history, Warner led the Rams to a NFL Championship with one of the finest seasons any NFL quarterback has ever had. The Rams made it back to the Super Bowl in 2001, but Adam Vinatieri kicked a game winning field goal to give the New England Patriots the championship. Warner had a number of other good years in St. Louis, but mediocre play and injuries eventually saw him lose the starting job to Marc Bulger.

The New York Giants signed Warner in 2004 as a free agent and the veteran had the Giants off to a 5-2 start before he was supplanted by draft pick Eli Manning. Some labeled Warner washed up as he made his way to Arizona the next year. The Cardinals drafted Heisman Trophy winner Matt Leinart in 2006 expecting the USC star to quickly take over the quarterbacking reigns, but Warner defied the odds again winning the starting job. In 2008 Warner had a Pro Bowl season earning the Cardinals their first division title since 1975 and first Super Bowl appearance in the team’s history. The Pittsburgh Steelers prevailed despite Warner throwing for 377 yards. This year the Cardinals made another run into the playoffs until they met up with the New Orleans Saints who pummeled Warner’s team 45-14.

The story of Kurt Warner is one of the best underdog stories of all-time in sports. He was a guy who came out of nowhere and became the best quarterback in the NFL. It will be debated in the years to come if Warner deserves a spot in the Hall of Fame, but I’d put him in Canton if I had a vote. Kurt Warner is a great reminder of what can be born out hard work and undying resolve.

Kentucky’s John Wall: NCAA Men’s B-Ball’s Biggest Star?

• January
• 22

John Wall’s first game in college basketball may have been a sign of things to come when the 2009 Rivals.com #1 prospect scored 19 points and hit the game winning shot for the Kentucky Wildcats in their victory over Miami University. Since his debut Wall has led the undefeated Wildcats to victories over UConn, Florida, North Carolina, and Louisville with his ability to take command of a game with his blinding quickness getting to the basket.

Often compared to Bulls guard Derek Rose, the point guard will likely be the #1 pick in next season’s NBA Draft. The only real knock on Wall is his inconsistent outside shooting, but many writers are already dubbing the 19-year-old as the NCAA’s Player of the Year.Kentucky will depend on John Wall to take them deep into the NCAA Tournament, but they will have to contend with the likes of Texas, Kansas, and Duke.

Wall is not the only big name in the NCAA as Texas’ Damion Jones and Ohio State’s Evan Turner Jr. will also likely be starring in this season’s NCAA Tournament. NCAA’s rules keeping players like Wall who could probably be playing in NBA right out of high school whether you like it or not makes college basketball more entertaining. Who knows how much longer the rule will be in place so I’d book your March Madness tickets while you can still see players like Wall in the tournament. We shall see how basketball’s biggest name finishes the season and how big of a show he puts on come March. For now all we can do is expect big things from Mr. John Wall.

Jets Bringing New Swagger to Indianapolis

• January
• 21

Despite being one of the most historic professional football franchises, the New York Jets have never won a conference championship in the modern era of the NFL. There have been nine different U.S. presidents in office since ‘Broadway” Joe Namath led the Jets to their one and only Super Bowl in 1968. Fans of the Green and White have long been suffering supporting Jets teams who have found different ways to break their hearts over the years. Nevertheless, during last Sunday’s 17-14 win over the Chargers in San Diego the J-E-T-S looked nothing like the lovable losers of old. As Elisabeth Merrill points out in her ESPN.com article a lot of the credit in turning the Jets’ defeatist attitude around is owed to first year coach Rex Ryan. Ryan has instilled a confidence in the Jets allowing them to pull two surprising playoff victories over the Cincinnati Bengals and the San Diego Chargers. The Jets will have their hands full with Payton Manning and the high flying Indianapolis Colts, but expect New York to go out there believing they can pull off the upset. If the Jets have proved anything in the last few weeks it’s that they excel at dispelling old stereotypes.

Winter Olympics

• January
• 15

If you love this time of year, you might want to consider seeing one of the biggest events of the season. It’s almost time for the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada. These Olympics will feature all of your favorite events. If you’re a luge fan, you’ll get to see that. Bobsledding, they have lots of that. Perhaps the most famous event is figure skating, where you might get to see the Hughs sisters or Cohen back in action for the women’s side. And the men’s skater from Russia are always particularly exciting. Or maybe you like skiing, or hockey. Or speed skating. There are so many different events and I can’t give you all the details about all of them. But you can find tickets to the Winter Olympics and see it all for yourself soon!

Wild Wild Card Game

• January
• 11

The NFC wasn’t expected to give us too much in the way of excitement this playoff season. Yes, the potential faceoff of Drew Brees and Brett Favre might be a big game. But who would have expected that the Arizona vs Green Bay game would be as good as it was. What was supposed to be an exciting game, but nothing really special, turned into a huge shootout with the most points scored in a playoff game ever. A 51-45 overtime win for Kurt Warner and the Cardinals proved to be an amazing boon. It looked bad at the start of overtime, when the Packers won the coin toss. But then a possible sack turned into a fumble for Aaron Rodgers, and the ball was taken for 20 yards or so for the winning touchdown. The desert stadium erupted like crazy when that happened. Rodgers was angry, but he had an amazing season and looks like he’ll head to some great places in the next few years! Congrats to Warner and the Cards!

Vikings and the Playoffs

• January
• 4

For the Minnesota Vikings, a sigh of relief is in order. The team was lucky to have retained their 2nd seed heading into the January fun. It was possible that they would get a 3rd seed, which, if things were the same as right now, would have pitted them against Philadelphia, which is not an easy game by any means. But the stars aligned for the Vikings yesterday to give them the first round bye for the NFC along with the New Orleans Saints. But who should they hope to play against? The Cowboys? The Packers? Eagles or Cardinals? They all seem to be pretty tough to me and with the way the Vikings have been dropping, January might be a tough time for them. They’ve lost several games down the stretch and there are still big questions about whether Favre will remain good enough to bring them all the way home. But they’ll have to get through the divisional round first.

Lebron Dancing

• December
• 31

LeBron James is doing a good job playing this year. His team is doing a great job. We would like to say that he’s being a good sport about it. He is goofing around with his team before the game and posing for weird pictures and such. If he loses the game, he gets all mean and curt with the press. After his game against the Bulls the other night, he started dancing and that make Joachim Noah angry and there was a little scuffle. LeBron might want to consider just being sportsmanlike about it. Maybe he could just put his arms up and then give an interview. James is a great player but he will have to prove himself in the playoffs in order to make a real name. But for now, he’s just going to be remembered for the dancing this year.

FIFA World Cup

• December
• 28

When we last saw major soccer teams playing in the World Cup, it was back in July 2006, when Italy and France battled out for the title. If you remember, there was a big controversy after one of the French players Zindane head-butted an Italian player. But that’s not the only exciting thing that happened during the tournament. The final match was won by Italy in penalty kicks, which is one of the most exciting ways to win a game like that. Italy had also won in spectacular fashion in the semifinals against the hosting German team. It was down to the final minutes and it appeared that the game would come down to penalty kicks. Instead, Italy kicked a surprise goal in the final two minutes taking a lead and then capping it off with yet another. Meanwhile, France beat Portugal decisively. During each World Cup, there are innumerable exciting moments, too many to name here, so you’ll just have to get World Cup Soccer tickets to find out for yourself!

Jimmie Johnson

• December
• 21

The Associated Press has chosen their athlete of the year, and I must say it’s a long time coming. He has now won 4 championships in a row, which is hard to imagine in any other sport, and has now become one of the best athletes of all kinds. His Sprint Cup win this year wasn’t spectacular. By the time it was officially in his hands, it had been pretty much a fait accompli. He will be racing for 5th in a row next season, which is really impressive for such a young fellow. His number 48 is starting to become one of the most well known in the sport, even though he’s not nearly as flashy as some of the other most popular drivers and doesn’t create nearly as much controversy as the others. This is going to be a fun year though, and he’s finally been recognized for the strength that he brings to the race!